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McBride, Simms come out on top

Logan County sees above average turnout for primary election

Michael Bournia, Republican candidate for Logan County Commissioner District 2, who was defeated by Joe McBride, and Bryon Pelton, Republican candidate for Logan County Commissioner District 1, who ran unopposed, look over preliminary results for the primary election. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

The race for Logan County Commissioner just got smaller. Tuesday voters in the primary election chose Republican Joe McBride to face off against Democrat Don Simms for the Logan County Commissioner District 2 seat in the Nov. 8 general election.

Finals results were released at around 8 p.m., with 3,856 ballots cast. McBride won the Republican race with 1,644 votes, 53.45 percent of total republican votes cast, while Bournia had 1,397 votes, or 45.42 percent of the total votes.

On the Democrat side, Simms received 435 votes, 55.77 percent of the total votes cast by Democrats, while Ramey received 295 votes, or 37.82 percent of the total votes.

Bournia thanked supporters for voting for him in the election and said he was glad to run.

Voters were dropping their primary election ballots off at the drop box outside the Logan County Courthouse right up until the 7 p.m. deadline Tuesday. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

"I am truly humbled by the outcome of tonight's election. I want to thank each of you who voted in this election and supported me. It has been an exciting journey thus far, with much more to come," McBride said in a press release. "I want to thank my family, friends, campaign team, donors and supporters for the tremendous amount of effort, time, and faith that you have put into me during this campaign. Without you, none of this would have come to fruition.

He also thanked Bournia and his campaign team for running a clean campaign. "Bournia is a tremendous asset to this community, volunteering his time to sit on county boards, and focusing on a positive future for Logan County and I look forward to working with him in the future to help make our county the best it can be," McBride said.

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"While this is just one more step towards the November general election, it is a big step towards a better Logan County. Socrates once said, 'The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building the new.' Now that I have moved on as the Republican candidate in this election, I plan on not focusing on what should have been done, but what will be done. I will bring strong leadership, collaboration, and positive growth as your Commissioner and hope you continue to support me in November," McBride stated in his press release.

"Thank you again... Thank you for taking part in this journey. I am truly excited for the future of our County!"

Simms said he was surprised that he won by as many votes as he did.

"It will be a challenge," he said about running against McBride in the general election. "I would have like to (run for commissioner) when I was younger, but I was always working and you can't be a full time county commissioner and work full-time."

While he knows it will be difficult going up against McBride, Simms said he knows he has what is needed to be commissioner. He pointed out he has worked three different times for big businesses that did everything from buying to selling, "so I know something about what I'm getting into."

Early results, released about 10 minutes after 7 p.m., showed McBride in the lead over Bournia, 1,571 votes (53.44 percent) to (45.44 percent), and Simms leading over Ramey, 422 votes (55.67 percent) to 287 (37.86 percent).

McBride and Simms might face some more competition though. There is at least one unaffiliated candidate seeking to make his way onto the November ballot, Jeremy Briles. The deadline for an unaffiliated candidate to file a petition to get on the ballot is July 14. Anyone wishing to run as a write-in candidate will need to file an affidavit of intent for the general election by July 21.

There is another commissioner seat up for election; Byron Pelton was the sole Republican running for District 1, receiving 2,333 votes. There are no Democrats running for the seat.

In the much talked about republican race for U.S. Senate, Logan County voters narrowly chose Darryl Glenn over Jack Graham for the top spot, 830 votes (26.98 percent of the 2,841 total votes cast) to 827 (26.89 percent). Robert Blaha came in third with 525 votes (17.07 percent), Jon Keyser in fourth with 410 votes (13.33 percent) and Ryan Frazier was last with 249 votes (8.09 percent).

Other local, state and federal uncontested races that voters weighed in on in the primary election included:

Sharkey and Ganahl will be the guest speakers at this month's Lunch the Republican Way, noon, Thursday, at the Plainsman Grill. Cost for lunch is $15.

Logan County Clerk and Recorder Pam Bacon said the election "went really good." The county had a higher than average turnout with 3,824 ballots returned out of the 7,561 total mailed out; average turnout is 3,500.

Bacon attributed having results out by 8 p.m. to the new equipment, which she said worked great; her "awesome staff;" and voters turning in their ballots early. There were 691 ballots turned in Monday.

Many voters took advantage of the new drop box outside of the courthouse as well, dropping ballots in it up until the final seconds before they were due.

There are 17 ballots being held for signature discrepancies or missing signatures. Bacons said those voters have until July 6 to come to her office and fix that.

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